Book of Abstracts: Albany 2009

The aim of nanotechnology is to put specific atomic and molecular species where we want them, when we want them there. Achieving such dynamic and functional capabilities could lead to nanoelectronics, nanorobotics, programmable chemical synthesis, and nanoscale systems responsive to their environments. Structural DNA nanotechnology offers a powerful route to this goal by combining stable branched DNA motifs with cohesive ends to produce objects, programmed nanomechanical devices and fixed or modified patterned lattices. Here, we demonstrate a dynamic form of patterning wherein a pattern component is captured between two independently programmed DNA devices, tailed with cohesive ends that face each other (See Figure). A simple and robust error-correction protocol has been developed that yields programmed targets in all cases. This capture system can lead to dynamic control either on patterns or on programmed elements; this capability enables computation or a change of structural state as a function of information in the surroundings of the system.

The figure shows schematic drawings of the four different capture molecules. In each of the four cases, two PX-JX2 two-state robust nanomechanical DNA devices embedded in cassettes face each other. They are shown anchored in a blue origami array beneath them by two green domains. The sticky ends are indicated as A and B (left), or C and D (right). Their relative positions are established by the state (PX or JX2) of the cassettes. The four different capture molecules are shown to have sticky ends with primed labels that are complementary to the pairs of sticky ends on the cassettes. The pattern is established by the top domain of the capture molecules.

This research supported by NIGMS, NSF, ARO, ONR and the W.M. Keck Foundation.